Sunday, March 1, 2009

[Cookie 003] Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

Hi.

So, basically, here's the deal. These cookies rocked. Severely. I know they are only the 3rd cookie I have blogged about, but so far they earn the coveted 1st place blue ribbon in my heart. But don't take my word for it, some of my (highly respected) friends coined these cookies as "magical" and begged me to make them again, essentially urging me to abandon my task of only baking each cookie once (part of my effort towards making every cookie from this book). Yeah. That good.

Granted, you do have to work for it. There is a lot of waiting around in this recipe: lots of chilling and rechilling, which can lead to impatient guests who take their crankiness out on you for inviting them over and not actually supplying any cookies. What can I say, I didn't really read the recipe in advance, so my friends only got bits of cookie dough to munch on and had to come back the following day (after the dough had chilled) in order to get the highly anticipated cookies. But it was worth it, they say. I have to agree.

One of the best parts of this recipe was having to roll the balls of uncooked dough in granulated sugar before baking. This gives the cookie an AMAZING texture once baked: crystalized outsides, crunchy edges, and soft, chewy, delicious insides. One bite, and you'll get what I mean. And although it is extremely tempting to eat a cookie as soon as the tray comes out of the oven (and you should), I recommend saving a few to eat after they have cooled and set a bit. The chewiness really gets better after they have had time to harden up a bit.

Next time I want to use much higher quality cocoa, and I actually didn't put any freshly grated ginger in these (yeah I know, I suck), but they still tasted gingery and delicious.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and grated ginger until whitened, about 4 minutes. Add brown sugar; beat until combined. Add molasses; beat until combined.

In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in 1 1/2 teaspoons boiling water. Beat half of flour mixture into butter mixture. Beat in baking-soda mixture, then remaining half of flour mixture. Mix in chocolate; turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Pat dough out to about 1 inch thick; seal with plastic wrap; refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.

I definitely booked marked this one and I'm jealous of your access to a kitchen. I've got a microwave that is shared my the floor. Oh yay (not). Also, your blog is such a great idea; I hope to see more posts!

Now What's All This About?

Ok so I had this great idea back in February 2009 to bake all the recipes in the Martha Stewart Cookie Cookbook, and guess what--I FAILED!

I will make every recipe, all 175 of them, before I graduate.

I will make more recipes, maybe all of them, but now I live a life of leisure where I am not so hard on myself. Ya know, I'm really into the c'est-la-vie-live-and-let-live-YOLO-hang-in-there-one-day-at-a-time-started-from-the-bottom-now-we-here lifestyle now. So we'll see where this goes.

Oh, and yes I started this blog before that movie Julie & Julia came out, so don't try and be a smart-ass.

I'm very bad at responding to comments (read: I don't respond to comments at all), so if you have a question, or want to just strike up a conversation about anything at all (new recipes? wood carving? wiffle ball?) just shoot me an email: everylastcookie@gmail.com